1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mobile apparatus for spraying fireproofing and specialty coatings onto buildings during construction. In particular, the invention relates to a mobile unit having all of the required parts for completing a spraying job, all mounted onto a trailer that also functions as a work platform during spraying.
2. The Prior Art
In the field of fireproofing, the product to be applied is shipped in solid granular form and then mixed with water and sprayed onto the beams of new construction. The product is often mixed with an accelerator immediately prior to the spraying, to aid in the hardening of the product after spraying.
Typically, the fireproofing company brings the spraying equipment to the job site, where the product is first mixed with water in a mixer, and then transferred to a separate pump for spraying. All of the components are brought separately to the job site and used there. This has the disadvantage of requiring the product, power supply, mixers and pump to be separately brought to and from the job site. It also requires a separate outside power supply for the motorized components. It would be desirable to create a mobile unit that includes all of the necessary components for completing a spraying job, so that the unit merely needs to be driven from site to site.
Mobile sprayers are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,761 to O'Dell discloses a mobile pressure spraying apparatus having fluid reservoir, a pump and a nozzle mounted onto a trailer for spraying fluid such as asphalt sealers. U.S. Pat. No. 1,602,105 to Geer et al. discloses another portable spraying device having two tanks for holding the material to be sprayed and an air compressor for spraying. U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,849 to Studinger discloses another mobile sprayer having a gasoline engine driving a high pressure pump and having tanks for holding the fluids to be sprayed.
Various other insulation spraying devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,040 to Nowak, U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,163 to Woten et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,512 to Kistner, U.S. Pat. No. 3,476,318 to Eckert, U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,802 to Boyer et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,870 to Sorathia et al.
While all of these inventions provide for spraying insulation or other liquids, none of the references disclose a completely self-contained work platform having all of the materials and machinery necessary to complete an insulation spraying job.